When Are Built-Ins a Good Idea?

We are often asked when built-ins are a good idea.  If you are tight on space
and need to take advantage of every square inch, they can be the best solution. 
They are also a necessity in odd-shaped rooms and sometimes when
industry-standard sizes are not an option.

Not all projects are as satisfying as others. We tackled a project in a wonderful, Cape Cod style home in Arlington, Virginia. At first  glance, it may not have seemed worthwhile to invest the resources in converting a once, screened-in porch into an updated, transitionally- style home office.

The room had been enclosed and nicely finished years ago by previous homeowners – complete with dark paneling, heating and cooling throughout and sufficient insulation. However, as a successful consultant found himself telecommuting for nearly the last decade, his home office was a collection of college dorm-like furnishings with poor lighting and functionality.

We always design to fit the style of the home and homeowners’ taste. We
started with requirements to provide comfortable seating to watch a large, flat
screen television on one end of the room, and meet a specifications list that
included housing three to four computers, ample storage space, and significant desk surface area. We designed around baseboard heaters, a protruding brick wall, and two banks of windows.

Unlike many clients, this client was a DREAM. I know you are assuming they
had an unlimited budget. We have clients in 1,000 SF of living space in
Washington, D.C. and 18,000 SF of living space in McLean. I promise you in the
last nine years, we have never come across a single client who did not have a
budget!

This was a dream client because they agreed to let us design a roughly 12
feet by 20 feet space assuming anything could be replaced. They were reasonable
in that they realized to maximize functionality, every piece of furniture had to
have a purpose and be properly scaled for the tight room.

The office side of the room boasts a beautiful built-in unit that incorporates a cooling system for all the computers. Remember the heaters? The  built in is attached to the wall and has legs on the face to preserve a mission,
shaker-inspired style. We maximized desk space and the view by relocating the
desk to look out the windows, and removed the sheer room divider. For seating,
we flipped the sofa and chair locations to an adjacent wall – which left the
enter of the room open and created a perfect angle for television viewing.

Of course, construction is always a challenge. We needed to score and cut the
paneling at the heaters, remove the ceiling when we updated the lighting scheme
and upgraded the insulation and hung sound-proof drywall to minimize the sound
of the neighbors’ wall heating unit less than 10 feet away.

The finished room is nothing short of spectacular. After nearly daily conversations with our clients and weekly check-ins over the course of a couple months, you realize just how lucky you are to meet great people who allow you to help them to create terrific results.

Project managed by seasoned, Interior Decorator, Janet Aurora. Written by Sandra Hambley, Principal Interior Decorator of DecorAndYouDC, NoVa Decorators. www.DecorAndYouDC.com.